Star Wars: Rebirth

The Legacy Era's aftermath led to an era of rebirth for the Empire, and the Empire's enemies.

How to Play Tabletop RPGs

Introduction

Before I go on with this article, I want to say that I don’t want this article to be an absolute step-by-step guide to playing a Tabletop RPG (RPG stands for Roleplaying Game), as all Tabletop RPGs are different. Rather, I want this article to give you an overview of the general ideas that exists in almost all Tabletop RPGs, as well as some of the etiquette that goes into it as well. To those of you who have been playing Tabletop RPGs for a while, this article will be an old hat. But no matter how old this hat might be, it might still be worth re-reading and refreshing yourself. But to those of you who are newer to Tabletop RPGs, I hope this guide gives you a good idea as to where to start when it comes to playing Tabletop RPGs, and perhaps answer a few questions you might have.

The Game

To begin, I want to talk about the Tabletop RPG in the scope of Star Wars: Saga Edition. So, what does a game of Star Wars: Saga Edition look like? The game is typically played around a table, and in this game, there is a Gamemaster (GM), and the other people playing are typically players. On this table, you might have a journal, a pen or pencil, dice numbered from 1d4, 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, and 1d20, and maybe even a snack bowl and some beer or soda. More importantly though, a game of Star Wars: Saga Edition is played in your imagination.

Think of a game of Star Wars: Saga Edition as being an interactive story, where the GM tells the story, while the Players direct the story by acting out within the story as their characters, then the GM must go and continue the story with respect to the player’s actions, and together, the GM and the Players tell a story.

The dice are another important tool in Star Wars: Saga Edition. Why they are so important is because what dice are, are a neutral number generator. You roll the dice, and the dice generate a number that is independent of the situation going on that required them. Of course, a computer program that generates numbers works as well, or even drawing a number of a hat can work too.

With the value generated from the dice, the players and the GM work that value into the statistics of a character or the situation at hand, and then the result will signify its meaning in the given situation.

The notes that the players have are important, so that they can record important things that occurred in the game, such as important names, or even the answer to a puzzle in the future.

That about covers the basics of Star Wars: Saga Edition. This next section will cover what the player does more in depth.

The Player

For the players to “play”, the Player makes a character that fits the setting the GM described and that is approved of by the GM. With that character, the Players interact with the game world through their character, that is, playing the role of the character. When a player plays the role of a character, they become that character in the same way an actor becomes a character in a Play or a Movie. The characters that the Players made (Known as PC’s or Player Characters) become the main characters of the story- the driving force of the story.

As a Player Character though, you can do most anything, so long as if it is within the bounds the GM provided. This does not mean the players can’t do anything outlandish, but this does mean that the Players have to work with the GM, and deal with whatever situation the GM presents to them in a way that adds to the story, and gives the GM a whole multitude of ways in which the GM can continue telling the story on top of giving them more situations.

The Gamemaster (GM)

The GM is that other person at the table who doesn’t have a specific character, but hes still one of the most important people in the game. The GM plays as everything in the game except for the PCs (Player Characters), be they helpful supporting characters, the Big Bad Evil Guy, the Minions of the Big Bad Evil Guy, the everyday citizens, or even the scenery and the narrator.

All the GM does is present the PCs with situations, and then they let the PCs deal with said situations in whatever way makes sense from the player character’s perspective.

The GM is not competing with the players at all, but are working with the players in order to make the player character’s actions stand out and make a difference, knowing that the players would do what they can to make the story the GM is telling into an awesome one, and an enjoyable one for both the GM and the Players.

The Goal of the Game

The ultimate goal for this game is for it to be fun for everyone involved. If the game isn’t fun for at least one person, then its a problem that needs to be resolved.

So if everyone, be they GM or Player are having fun with the game, then the game is good.